The Union Health Ministry on Friday (August 16, 2024) said that the heads of institutions will be held responsible for filing institutional FIR within six hours of any incident of violence upon any healthcare workers while on duty following widespread protests over the gangrape and murder of a housestaff doctor in Kolkata.
Doctors and medical students staged a demonstration on Tuesday to protest against an alleged rape and murder of a woman doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, at civil hospital in Solapur, Maharashtra on August 16, 2024.
This office memorandum was addressed by Director General Health Services Dr. Atul Goel to directors and medical officers of central government hospitals such as AIIMS, and principals of all medical colleges in the country.
“Notably, under this OM it is mandated that the Heads of Institutions shall file an institutional FIR within at most six hours from the occurrence in cases where there is violence directed towards healthcare workers during their work period,” read part of memo.
“In recent times it has been observed that doctors and other health staff working in Government hospitals are increasingly being exposed to violence,” read the note.
As per the OM, many health care professionals suffer physical assault while discharging their duties while others are threatened or exposed to verbal abuse with majority attackers being patients or those attending them.
